Folding shipping box



Jan, 13, 1925. 1,523,24fi. A. EERKGVVETZ FOLDING SHIPPING Box;

Filed July 10, 1924 r 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR A. BERKOWITZ FOLDINGSHIPPING BOX Filed July 10 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Jan.13, 1925.

AARON BERKOWITZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FOLDING SHIPPING BOX.

Application filed July 10, 1924. Serial No. 725,181.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known thatI, AARON BERKow'rrz, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, borough of the Bronx, in the county of Bronxand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Folding Shipping Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to temporary containers or shipping appliancesand has particular reference to such constructions made from stiffpaper, cardboard, or other equivalent relatively cheap material and usedin large quantities for the packing and ship ping of millinery and manyother articles of merchandise. s

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a container orreceptacle, capable of storage in relatively small amount of spacewhereby a comparatively large quantity may be kept on hand ready for usewithout the sacrifice of valuable store space, and yet one thatpossesses peculiar novel features of simplicity and cheapness ofconstruction, both as to labor and material, and also one that possessessuperior stiffness, strength, or rigidity while in carrying position. 0'

More specifically, one of the objects of the present improvement is toconstruct a foldable or collapsible box in which all four sides areuncreased or unbroken in the manufacture and collapsed form and onewhose bottom is composed of sections hinged respectively to the sidemembers and so interlocked in set up position as to be of doublestrength and peculiarly well braced to prevent lateral collapse of thebox or separation of the bottom sections when external force is broughtto bear thereon in any direction.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose ofillustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view ofone form of the invention showin the manner of cutting, substantiallywit out waste, two boxes .same rectangular blank with no waste ofmaterial. I

Fig. 7 is a. view corresponding practically to the form shown in Fig. 3,the bottom sections being understood as being moved downward into ortoward locking position.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of the center joint construction according tothe pattern of Fig. 6, the view otherwise being similar to Fig. '2.

Fig. 9 corresponds to Fig. 5 in that it represents the locked positionof the bottom.

Fig. 10 is a detail erspective view indicating the manner of folding thebox for storage or transportation purposes.

It will be understood that the illustrations and specification herewithdo not include a box lid, it being contemplated that an suitable form orconstruction of lid will lie employed as usual in this class of devicesand into which the folded box will be nested in normal inactivecondition. It will be understood, therefore, that the complete box asherein described will ordinarily be provided with a cover for shippingpurposes, but whose construction per se I am not concerned with at thistime.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, and more particularlyto the first set of figures, each box comprises four rectangular sidewalls or panels A, A?, A and A". These wall members carry bottomsect1ons a a a and a, respectlvely, each as an integral port thereof andconnected along a scored blending line 10, such hinge line representingone edge of the finished bottom. Each of the bottom sections justdescribed is of generally right isosceles triangle form, the edge 11thereof being of a length equal to the edge or line 10, while-the thirdside or base of the triangle coinciding practically with the diagonal ofthe box bottom is formed with a re-entrant or undercut notch 12 at theinner side of a hook 13. The notch and hook of one section are theprecise counter part of the corresponding parts or features of thatbottom section of the duplicate box cut at the same time from the samerectangular piece of stock. It will be understood clearly from Figs. 1and 2 that the two mating hooks of the two box parts just described havea point of contact 14 that in this form of the invention represents thegeometric center of the box bottom,.said point of contact coincidingpractically with what might be called the point of interlock of the fourbottom sections in the completely set up box as in Fig. 5.

The vertical height of the box walls may have any desired relation tothe dimensions of the bottom, but in Fig. 1 I indicate that the sidewalls are square. At one end of the box pattern is formed a flange 15which overlaps the remote edge of the remote side wall. A narrow stripof the stock at 16 in this form of the'inventionis discarded but it isso small that it is practically negligible. The flange 15 may beconnected by glue or any other well-known fastening means to the edge ofthe side wall intended for co-operation therewith. Between each sidewall and the next is observed of course a scored line 17 for the purposeof shaping the box from a single strip of material and for foldingpurposes.

At the time ,the box is made each bottom section is folded upwardrelatively flat against the inner surface of that wall panel to which itis hinged along the line 10, and assuming that the joint is com leted at15, the box is then collapsed lateraly, bringing two sidewalls and theirconnected bottom sections directly and flatly against the other two sidewalls, and then a second fold is made in the manner suggested in Fig.10, making a fiat structure without breaks or folds in any of the sidewalls. To set up this box the folded structure is grasped and setupright so that the side walls will be in proper erect position.corresponding to the final set up. The double fold is then opened, outso that what is then the bottom edge represents the diagonal of the box,and then the operator grasps the two mating flat portions of the boxwith his respective hands and carries them apart and carries with, thewall portions the bottom sections that pertain to the respective wallsections until the structure approximates the position or form of Fig.3. Upon letting go the bottom sections they fall naturally and directlydownward within the box in proper relation to one another and mutuallycontribute as they are being pushed downward by the operators hand tocome into such position as in Figs. 4 and 5 as will not only stronglyinternally brace the box bottom, but produce practically automatically arigid interlock at the hooks 13. In the use of the heaviest or stitleststock it is sometimes desirable to produce coincident with the cut tingof the box bending lines as at 18, such lines intersecting the hooks 13and either co- .inciding with or practically parallel with thepractically double throughout and the interlock is self holding in alldirections. The locking hooks have been brought into the secureinterlocking relationship in which each notch straddles the other flapsadjacent the notches thereof. From another point of view, the lockingnotch constitutes a clasp clamping or gripping all of the companionflaps at the corresponding locking notches. Pressure downward from theinside ofthe box is resisted not only by the interlock at the center,but by the fact that each free corner portion of a bottom section restsdirectly upon that portion of the section beneath it that is integralwith the adjacent side wall. Any tendency under ordinary conditions orusage for the bottom to be forced upward from below, is resistedeffectually and practically by two facts,

that each bottom section is formed integral with its side wall along theline 10 which prevents the upward displacement of the bottom along suchedge, and secondly, all such movement of the bottom is resisted by theeffectual interlock at the hooks 13. It will be seen by reference toFigure 1 that the notch 13 extends in the general direction toward theapex of the flap and substantially bisects the oblique edge of the flap;It is by this arrangement that a-teusile stress from opposite directionsnormal to the base lines of the box is effectively resisted bytheinterlocked notches. No component of such stresses would exist in adirection tending to separate the interlocked notches of opposite flaps,but on thecontrary, such stresses would tend rather to draw saidinterlocked notches into more intimate and tighter coaction. The notchesneed not extend in the precise direction shown, it being suflicient thatthe edges of the notches which endure the tensile stress be not inclinedin direction opposite to that shown in which latter case the tensileforce. whether applied directly or as a consequence of an upward thrustfor instance would tend to disengage the interlocked notches.Geometrically expressed, the ef fective locking edge extends relative tothe oblique straight line connecting the base corner and apex ofthe-flap at an angle no greater than that between said oblique line andthe base line of the flap. The locking tongues by my arrangementinterpose effective barriers to the separation of the associated lockingnotches from interclasp ing relationship. It is difficult, if notimpossible, for the interlocked hooks to be separated even manually forrecollapsing or folding of the box after the box is once set up andlocked without breaking or-destroying the structure.

The foregoing remarks as to method of setting up and interlocking thebottom sections together apply to both forms of the inventionillustrated. In Figs. 6 to 9, however, I show a pattern or method offorming a folding box in which there is even less waste than in thefirst form. the two boxes cut from the same rectangular sheet areprecisely duplicates of each other in that the flange portion 15 hasexactly the same relation to the nearest bottom section in each case. Iindicate, however, in this form that the box is of less depth thanwidth. The side walls of the box are distin-' guished from theconstruction in Fig. 1 by the use of the letters B and 6 instead of Aand a, but the bending and hinge lines are indicated the, same in bothsets 9f figures.

With reference now particularly to Fig. 8, the re-entrant notches 12 arenarrower than the notches 12 above described, but the books 13' arepractically the same in artoo little to mention. The edge 11' of eachbottom section corresponding to the edge 11 above described is slightlyoffset between its ends but still has abutting. contact with a side wallwhen the box is set up in order to afi'ord internal bracing or stifinesswhile the extreme point of each bottom section remote from its hingeline has contact against any side wall. The fourth bottom section has astraight side for contact with the adjacent side wall throughout itslength as shown at 11'. Moreover, the extreme point of this bottomsection is so truncated as at 19 as to constitute a superior abutmentagainst that side of the box remote from the hinge line of such section.

In all forms shown or suggested herein the invention is peculiarly easyand cheap to manufacture, a fact exceedingly important in view of'thenature of the device and its use, and the manner of opening out orsetting up the box from its tolded position is peculiarly simple andeasy and also the box when so set up is unusually safe and strong.- Eachbottom seetionhas the neral In this form' form of a rightisoscelestriangle, one of the equal sides of which is the hinge lineconnecting it to the adjacent side walls.

While I am aware that the prior art discloses a shipping box embodyingfour cooperating bottom sections that swing downward into mutualinter-bracing relationship, I believe it to be new and original with me.to provide the bottom sections with re-entrant notches to provide aninterlock that will prevent separation or disengagement of said sectionswhen force is brought to bear thereon from the bottom.

I claim:

1. A folding paper box comprising a se ries of similar rectangularsidewalls connected'each to each along vertical hinge lines, each sidewa l having a bottom section integral therewith and hinged thereto forfolding flat against its side wall or to be swung downward intohorizontal position, the several bottom sections being substantially allof the same size and of generally right triangular form, one side ofeach being its hinge line while the hypothenuse thereof corresponds tothe diagonal of the box, and. said hypothenuse of each bottom sectionbeing formed at the center of the box with a re-entrant notch bounded onits outer side by a hook like locking tongue, serving to resistseparation of any flap from the flap directly opposite thereto bystresses exerted in the planes of such flaps and whereby when allthe-bottom sections are moved downward to horizontal position at rightangles to the side walls they all so interlock at the notches as to beself-retained against external force applied to the box from anydirection.

2. A box of the class described including side walls, flaps connected tothe edges of the side walls, tending to fall inward simultaneously by adirect swinging movement, when the side walls are distended, each ofsaid flaps having a conformation substantially at the center of an edgethereof, and .coactingv with the corresponding conformations of theother flaps to form an end wall in which the interengaged conformationsresist tensile stresses exerted in the plane of the flaps andsubstantially normal to the base lines thereof. 7 v

3. A box-of the class described including side walls, flaps connected tothe lower edges of the side walls, tending to fall inward simultaneouslyby a direct swinging movement. when the side walls are distended, eachof said flaps having a clasping conformation integral therewith andsubstantially at the center'of an edge thereof and straddling thecorresponding clasping conformations of the other flaps to form; a boxbottom in which the inter-engaged conformations resist tensile stressesexerted in the planes of the flaps and substantially normal to the baselines thereof.

an edge thereof into two segments and substantially at the part of saidflap positioned at the geometrical center of the box bottom in set-upposition, each of said notches coacting with that of the opposite flapin an interlock, the effective locking edge of which extends relative tothe straight oblique line joining the base corner to the apex of theflap at an angle not greater than the angle of said oblique linerelative to the base line of the flap whereby there is no component of atensile stress normal to the base lines that tends to draw the lockingnotches apart.

5. A box of the class described including side walls, substantiallytriangular flaps connected to the lower edges of the side walls andadapted to fall inward simultaneously by a direct swinging movement whenthe side walls are distended. said flaps having lockin notchessubstantially at the centers of their interengagin edges, the notch ofeach flap straddling t e notch of the opposite fiap by a booking action,whereby tensile stress exerted from opposite directions in the planes ofthe flaps and normal to the base lines is efi'ectively resisted.

6. A box comprising side .walls connected in a tubular structure,identical bottom Wall flaps integral with the lower edges thereof, eachof said flaps of generally right angle triangle form and having anoblique edge including a hooking tongue having one of the sides thereofgenerally lengthwise of the hypotenuse, said hooking tongue having alocking portion disposed substantially precisely at the part of the flapforming the geometrical center of the bottom when the box is set up.

7. A box comprising side walls connected in a tubular structure,identical bottom wall flaps integral with thelower edges thereof, eachof said flaps of generally right angle triangle form and having anoblique edge including a hooking tongue having one of the sides-thereofgenerally lengthwise of the hypotenuse. said hooking tongue having itstwo sides substantially parallel to each other.

and a locking notch in communication with the inner side.

8. A box comprising side walls connected in a tubular structure,identical bottom wall flaps integral with the lower edges thereof. eachof said flaps of generally right angle triangle form and having anoblique edge, said oblique edge comprising a portion extending from theside wall to the part of the flap constituting the center of the bottomwhen the box is set up and an edge parallel to said first edge extendinginward from the apex of the flap to beyond said center, said projectingpart constituting a hooking tongue determining with said first edgeportion a locking notch at said center portion.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signa ture.

AARON BERKOWITZ.

